"I will give President Trump credit for being tougher on Russian than Obama. That is without a doubt clear. Army, the Ukraine, expelling diplomats, imposing sanctions, tougher than Obama did," he said.

"But it's not working. They're still trying to interfere in our election. This week was good news for me in two ways. The president met with the National Security Council on Friday, ordering them to harden our electoral infrastructure against Russia and other actors for 2018. That's presidential leadership I've been looking for," Graham said.

"I've talked to homeland security folks, I've talked to everybody in the government. I think a good package is coming out of the administration to protect the 2018 election. [U.S. Secretary of State Michael] Pompeo told [Senator Robert] Menendez that he would work with myself and Senator Menendez and other groups to put new sanctions on the table for Russia. I'm going to come out with sanctions from hell on Russia. Because what we're doing is not working," he added.

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